[Netnews-action] article: The latest developments in Farhat's case

[Manchester Campaigns]

-------- Forwarded Message --------
From: maciacia <itspossible at ntlworld.com>

 c/o Cheetham Hill Advice Centre, 1 Morrowfield Avenue, Cheetham Hill,
              Manchester M8 9AR.  farhatmuststay at dmt1.net
                The latest developments in Farhat’s case
                                    

Farhat and her five children fled domestic violence in Pakistan in 2000.
They were refused asylum and face the real risk of becoming the victims
of “honour killing” if they are returned.  While in Pakistan, Farhat
worked in community development for 21 years, mainly with women.

 

In 2004 the Home Office withdrew Farhat’s permission to work in the UK.
Despite this, she has continued to make a valuable contribution to the
community. Her children have settled well; two of them are participating
in the Education Department’s Talented and Gifted initiative. 

 

Farhat has also been refused protection through the recent family
amnesty.  This is because she was forced back to Pakistan from Britain
in 2000 and so returned to the UK a few weeks too late to qualify.  She
is asking for discretion to be shown regarding the family amnesty.  She
has also submitted further evidence and asked the Home Office to
consider this as a new asylum claim.

>From Buckingham Palace. . . to Coronation Street!!!

 

In December 2004 Farhat was invited by the Queen to attend a Christmas
reception at Buckingham Palace in recognition of her “significant
contribution to national life”.  Farhat continues to work at Cheetham
Hill Advice Centre as a volunteer advice worker and is actively involved
in a support group for newcomers to the Cheetham/Crumpsall area.  Farhat
won the BBC GMR Volunteer Award 2005 in recognition of the impact that
her learning as an adult has had on her own life and that of women from
the local and the wider refugee and asylum seeking community in
Manchester.

 

                                    

 

 

Farhat’s latest contribution is to get together with other women asylum
seekers to set up an organisation called WAST (Women Asylum Seekers
Together) to support asylum seeking and refugee women and their
families. A very successful fundraising event was held in June 2005 at
the Saffron Restaurant on Cheetham Hill Road in North Manchester.
Special guests included Julie Hesmondhalgh (Coronation Street’s
“Haley”).  The event, and donations related to it, raised over £2,000,
1/3 of which went to the Farhat Campaign and 2/3 to help to set up WAST.

 


                        What YOU can do to help
May 2005 marked the second anniversary of Farhat’s campaign, two years
in which Farhat and her five children have been fighting against
deportation.  Farhat’s campaign for the right to live and bring up her
children safely in the UK has been long and hard – and it’s far from
over yet.  We have a new Home Office Minister, Tony McNulty MP, Minister
of State for Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality.  This is an
opportunity to show him the public support that Farhat and her family
has and to ask him to show compassion in her case.  You can help by
writing to Tony McNulty at this address:

Home Office, 3rd Floor, Peel Building, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P
4DF.

 

Please write – even if you’ve written a letter before – to keep the
momentum of the campaigning for Farhat and her family and to draw the
new Minister’s attention to the case.  Personal letters are really good
but if you’ve not got time please copy, sign and send this letter. 

Thank you for your support.

 

 

Tony McNulty                        Name: --------------------------

Minister for Immigration                              

Home Office                        Address: ----------------------

3rd Floor            

Peel Building                        ----------------------------------

2 Marsham Street
                                

London
-----------------------------------

SW1P 4DF


                                                        Date:
---------------------------

 

Dear Mr McNulty,

 


Re: Farhat Khan and F  amily 
Home Office Refs. K1069042, K1070008 and K1109330

 

I am writing to you to ask you to use your discretion to allow the Khan
family to stay in this country, despite the failure of their original
asylum claims.  The family has huge support in the community and I know
that many people have already written to you about Farhat Khan and her
five children, who fled from Pakistan and sought asylum in this country
in 2000. They arrived in this country and claimed asylum just a few
weeks too late to claim the right to stay under the Home Office amnesty
scheme introduced in 2003.

 

For 21 years Farhat worked in Community Development with the poorest of
the poor in rural communities in Pakistan.  Her commitment to work for
the poor and underprivileged in the community has continued during her
time in the UK and has earned the recognition of the Queen, with an
invitation to Buckingham Palace in December 2004.  

 

In Pakistan Farhat worked to improve other people's lives, and
particularly the lives of women, but this earned her the abuse of her
husband and his family, who could not tolerate the fact that she did not
conform to the expectations of a woman's traditional role. Over a period
of 10 years Farhat was subject to repeated physical beatings and mental
and emotional abuse which escalated over time. All the children, from
the youngest to the eldest, were also subject to regular violence and
verbal abuse. 

 

Within Pushtoon tribal law, male honour is the most important value of
all. A man must always display comprehensive authority over his
dependents, particularly female ones. Any perceived threat to this must
be avenged and a man will go to extreme lengths to protect and restore
his honour. In this climate a woman can expect no support from the
Police and Courts. Now that Farhat has fled Pakistan, she lives in fear
of retribution if she is forced to return.

 

Farhat and her family have worked hard to integrate into the community.
Farhat volunteered for a year at a local advice centre, advising clients
on a whole range of issues. She moved on into paid work at Manchester
Refugee Support Network, and subsequently at Cheetham Hill Advice
Centre, where her intelligence, compassion and ability to speak three
languages meant she was greatly sought after by clients.  Following the
withdrawal of permission to work, she has returned to voluntary work and
continues to make a valuable contribution to the community. In addition,
her younger children have settled well into the local schools, with all
three of her children having achieved level 5s in SATs keystage 2.

 

Farhat Khan lives in fear of her life if she is forced to return to
Pakistan, and she lives in fear of the consequences to her children.  In
view of this, and in view of the contribution that the family have
proved they will make to the community if they are allowed to remain
here, I am requesting that you use your discretion to allow them to stay
in the UK on compassionate grounds.

 

 Yours sincerely